I had the pleasure of visiting Kensington Palace yesterday and viewing the show on dresses of the Queen, Princes Margaret and Princess Diana. The drawings of these gowns were also displayed  by their designers. One doesn’t realise what artists the designers were in their own right. Their drawings were tasteful and appropriate for their clientele. As famous designer Hartnell put it, pictures for the queen to view could not be to royal looking and not to high fashion, just a perfect blend of the two.

I couldn’t help but take photos of Princess Diana’s gowns as they were exquisite. In the background you can see some of the dresses from the 50’s and 60’s for the queen and princess Margaret. Enjoy.

Welcome into 2016. I am a little late to raise a glass with you as  I have been working like a beaver to get these two pieces finished for an upcoming spring exhibition with the South East England Embroiders Guild. It is being held at the National Trust site at Standen House and Gardens which is famous for it’s Arts and Crafts designs by William Morris.

We visited the house last November for inspiration. November gardens in England are less then perfect so another trip will be planned later this spring to see the exhibition and the gardens. I hope that the gardens have not been adversely affected by all this rain and flooding that we have had in England. I will keep you updated. In the meantime, I hope that you enjoy my little pieces of Arts and Crafts inspired textiles.

In the past month I have been working furiously with painting numerous encaustic paintings for a new Christmas Artists Open House at the Oxford Street Studio. The studio has never been involved in a Christmas open house before so we didn’t know what to expect. I love the location of the studio as it is just off the busy London Road shops in Brighton so I hoped that footfall would be there for any Christmas shoppers.

My plan was to just show encaustic work and to have the frames either in black or white. I also displayed pieces with a variety of sizes and prices including some unframed original pieces which were in my browser. I also had some small items such as felted soaps and cards available and thought that I would try to see how my eco printed silk scarves would be received.

Well, after the first weekend it appears that my plan worked. I am delighted to have sold seven paintings as well as various cards and felted soaps. It is interesting to note that although the silk scarves were admired none sold. We have two more weekends that will be opened so I am working to replace some of the smaller more popular paintings  as half of them have sold.

I continue to learn about the selling of my work. The number one item of importance is that one needs to be in a good location for buyers. It doesn’t matter how good your work is, if there are few people around to view your work, your sales will not be robust. Now I just need to continue to build that all important client list.

I wish all of you a happy healthy and prosperous Christmas.

Back in the UK, I enjoy thoughts of the mountains of  my British Columbia home. This little piece of encaustic art was a playful way of remembering.

It was created with the oil/wax sticks of encaustic and applied with an iron and stylus. It was recently shown  in the Dupont Art Club annual art exhibition.

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I have just completed the commission for my dear neighbour, Judi who loves textile art. It is rare to find people who appreciate the extensive time needed to complete art on fabric and wish for it to hang on their walls . Judi’s walls are adorned with beautiful textile art and needlepoint pictures, some of them made by her mother. It was rewarding to have Judi’s feedback of

‘Love it love it love it!’

The second photo was taken yesterday when I took the opportunity to take Judi’s piece to an art display with my retirees group

I also have just finished my large piece ‘ Into the Forrest’, and took it along to display as well. it is going into a show next September here in White Rock which I will advise you of closer to the date.

I enjoy my oil painting very much but working with  my textiles is much more tactile. Both are very rewarding.

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It has been some time since I wrote about this commission. A family wedding and travel in Canada has kept us busy.

I was given a colourful whimsical card by Judi. my neighbour as a inspiration not to be copied. . A preliminary sketch was modified to include a dry stone wall and via duct. With numerous changes,I completed the final acrylic painting, crunched it and bonded it to canvas. I decided to add various materials in a collage fashion and am nearly there now. A final photo will come on my future blog.

So far I have spent about 40 hours on this piece. Textile art is much more labor intensive then painting.

I have a commission to make one of my stitched paintings. My neighbor in Canada loves the Yorkshire dales and their dry stone walls in the UK. She has asked me toi do a piece for her with this subject. Fortunately she brought some cards back for me to see what type of piece she would like.

Having never been to this beautiful part of the UK, i had to depend on the internet and her cards to give me ideas for an initial sketch. I made four rough sketches for her to chose from. It will be interesting to see what she chooses. I have attempted to put these sketches in using my ipad bu alas, i can’t figure out how to include them. My computer is in Vancouver and we are in Penticton, in BC’s wine district at present.

I included another finished piece using this technique so you can see a finished piece using this technique. You will likely recognize this from Monet.

What a treat to be on a one week oil painting course with my favorite instructor,  Martin Kinnear and a jolly group of nine other artists. Martin and his assistants have us roaming the hills and beaches of this beautiful part of England. After four days of continuous painting, I sure notice an improvement with my  painting skills.. I love it. One day left and we return to Brighton to get ready to fly to Vancouver Canada.

For now, i am looking forward to our  last day here tomorrow. It is has been an excellent course.

“NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A GROUP – A COLLECTIVE ETHOS PUSHES IDEAS FORWARD”

– S.C. Ceramicist

This was the quote that welcomed us to the four day summer school with the Textile Study Group. Our instructor was Mary Sleigh who is a long time member of this 25 strong group of professional artists and teachers. It is set up as  a time for  artists of all walks of life to come together to take one of three classes given. Each class is limited to 16 so you can see that early registration is required.

This year we had our summer school at the Farncombe Estate near the village of Broadway and the city of Oxford UK. It is a 1500 country acre site with many different places to stay and many things to do. The food was delicious and plentiful.

I attended with my friend Anne Louise Gillilan who lives in both Hungary and Alaska. With me being from Brighton, UK and Vancouver Canada, introductions left a few raised eye brows and puzzled looks but we assured them that we were friendly folks,

I was a bit dubious about the content of our class initially as my interested lie more in painting and drawing which can include stitch. Mary talked about making books and boxes. We also learned about paper folding. As it turned out, I had a precious piece of rusted fabric with my late father in law helped me with through a loan of a can of rusted everything. I was able to build a lovely book witch I will keep as a sign in book for my art shows.

So what else did I learn from this unusual turn of events? Firstly it was not to be too hasty in passing judgement on content when I don’t know the full extent of what is to be taught. I refreshed knowledge I had gained years ago with my training at  Gail Harkers Centre for Creative Arts in Washington.  I also gained many little gems of information to do with my passion of art. I learned how to make my own gesso the way the old masters did with rabbit skin glue, I was able to see what the latest books and tools were when the mobile Art Van Go van with Kevin came for one day to quench our desire to buy the latest things on the market. Lastly and most important was the interaction with so many professional artists who like me came to have a break where they could just learn and play with art. 

Recently we had the pleasure of visiting the Champahne District in France. Now I know that Champagne is a title restricted to just those vinyards in the Champange District but had no idea on the depth of history surrounding it. This included the discovery of the process by the monks, the fight for survival at the turn of the century to save the vines from distruction from a virus only to be saved by grafting them onto vines from America as well as the deep tunnels into chalk where their champagne is stored.

We found a delightful vineyard hotel to stay at where we were plied with multiple tastings before dinners all for free. The Domaine Sacret in Ay was a wonderful place to stay to start our touring. We visited the tunnels beneath  Mercer Champagne via a small train that took you around the miles of tunnels, art carved into the chalk  and storage racks. As it was very hot outside, we enjoyed the coolness of these tunnels and the tastings after. Of course, a quick visit to Moet Chandon was a must but their main establishment was closed for renovations so we visited their shop which was very expensive and  viewed their wonderful visitor centre in Epernay.

Being the early bird of the group, I enjoyed morning walks among the vineyards on the hills overlooking at the miles of great waving grape vines.

All in all, it was a non sobering delightful experience

In our recent holiday to France, we were taken by our friends Eve and Dave to Reims to see their magnificent 12th century  Notre-Dame Cathedral. It has a wonderful panel of stained glass windows by the 20th century impressionist painter, Marc Chagall. The cathedrale  was badly damaged by bombing in the first world war including the lose of many of it’s ancient gothic stained glass windows. A few of these have been replaced by more modern ones. Marc Chagall made these in 1974. You can immediately see the difference as the new ones are a blaze of brighter colours with larger pieces of glass in the panels in a more contemporary setting. .

Eve knew that I loved his work as she had taken me to a little known village in Tudley Village in Kent. There stood a precious little chapel out in the middle of the country, open for visitors to view it’s precious windows by Chagall. When we drove to the Tudley Chapel three years ago, we were surprised to find it entirely unoccupied and open to the public. Apparently there can be occasional bus load of tourists arrive but thankfully not when we visited. One of the wealthy parishioners lost his 21 year of daughter who drowned. He commissioned Chagall to replace all of the wee Chapel windows to honour her life. It certainly has done that. I found the peaceful quiet of the Chapel bathed in the blues and golds from these windows, It was a spiritual experience just sitting in the pews gazing at these magnificent windows.

I noted that Chagall was commissioned to also do a set of windows for the Art Institute of Chicago and the UN building in New York as well as a few others around the world but nothing can compare with sitting in a wee chapel in the middle of Kent, bathed in the sunlit colours of his genius.

Three of the many windows in the Tudley Chapel

Reims Notre-Dame Cathedral panel

We have just returned from a wonderful trip to France. I have had a visit to Monet’s garden on my bucket list for years and it sure didn’t disappoint. Wow is all I can say. I can see why he had seven full time gardeners. There were acres of flowers and then you came to those famous water lilies. They were the most exciting for me. The small lake was full of them in bloom and there was two bridges he painted. Yes it was crowded but not problematic. We were there in the heat wave hitting the UK and Europe but the lake was surrounded by forest so the heat wasn’t a problem. I am so excited by  this beauty of Giverny that I am going to do a series of oil paintings using some of my photos as inspiration. Stay tuned in the future to see the results. These are just a few of the dozens of pictures take.They include the lovely villa we stayed in.

The embroiders guild held their exhibition  involving the guilds in the SE England yesterday. Along with many sales booths to tempt, there was the judging of the Alice in Wonderland competition held between the clubs. Our Brighton Club was awarded third place with our Alice piece. My coloured Alice piece in the centre was surrounded by Arthur Riddley’s wonderful blackwork. Arthur and I are joined by our chair, Heather Starbuck in this photo.

Kathy Anne Whites column of june 2015 had an excellent quote from the blog on ArtsyShark by Caroline Edlund. It concerned the topic many artists struggle  with in finding their own voice. I found this enlightening and aspirational. I hope that you enjoy and find this information  helpful.

It is as follows:

“A couple weeks ago one of my artist-friends shared an email featuring a blog post. The post incorporates a quote-

“If you want to improve your game, make sure the person on the other side of the net is better than you. Play up.”

This is not only true in sports, it’s true in almost everything especially in art.

Artists ask me all the time about-finding their voice. My first thought is they have to want to do the work. Many times creatives travel from one workshop to another learning some great techniques, but never work it enough to make it their own. In the 90’s a truly great artist gave me great advice. Learn a technique- go back to your studio and work it over and over and over. Do a piece and another and another and another until what you learned evolves into your own work. The first year after that advice I created over 125 pieces in my first real series. That was the beginning of an inspiring and eventful art career.

Playing up! is a good way to advance your art game. You don’t have to change what you are doing in art in a major way. Just consider how you work, where would you like to be with your art then make it happen. Take the steps to be successful. Do the work.”

Recently i had the pleasure of reading an article about self critiquing ones art by Susan Purney Marks. She included several articles which i found very helpful and will repeat below.

We often wish for feedback on a piece of art in order to improve it or just to confirm that we are on the right path. We can do much ourselves by using such techniqes as photographin the piece in different sizes, turning it around, standing back from it during painting, etc. 

You can see Susan’s blog at susanpm.blogspot.ca Two of the articles i found quite helpful are to be found at the following addresses.

www.commarts.com/columns/designing-self-critique

http://faso.com/fineartviews126347/learn-to-critique-your-own-art-work

i hope that this information will increase your confidence and improve what you produce by using these techniques of self critiqueing.

I am delighted to announce that the traveling Canadian Textile Art show with the Surface Design Association is coming to Alberta and BC next year. At present it is traveling in Ontario and then to Newfoundland in the fall.  Many of the pieces have been created by BC artist members. My piece called Aspens is included.

The dates for the exhibition are as follows.

Edge of the Forest is slated to come to Western Canada in 2016.

Fish Creek Community Library, Calgary, Alberta
January 11 – 30, 2016

Coast Collective Arts Centre, Victoria, British Columbia March 23 – April 3, 2016

FibreWorks Gallery,
Pender Harbour, British Columbia July 9 – August 21, 2016

A visit to the Royal Albert Hall has been on my bucket list for some time. I took advantage to see a wonderful dance theater production of the Follies which was only being shown for one day with two shows. We went to the matinee and enjoyed a walk through Hyde Park which was magnificent with its glorious color of flowers expertly designed by a wise gardener.We passed the Diana memorial which I found sensitively designed with people in mind who loved her and could come and soak tired feet in the waters.  On we went and I first noticed the tall spire of the Albert Memorial which stands in front of the Royal Albert Hall. Then we entered into the hall itself . Its splendour was everything I expected. It was bathed in rich  of golds and scarlets with its tiers of boxes where one could enjoy the hundreds of shows that occur there continuously.

All in all, I was in awe of the many artists including architects, garden designers,sculptures, actors, dancers, etc who added to the pleasure of the day.

My sisters and I enjoyed a few days in La Connar, Washington’s tulip festival which was so colorful and stunning. It is an inspiration for art.

Unfortunately when we got back home here in Vancouver, we discovered that my email has been hacked. Please ignore the requests for money from any Ukrainians or aliens. Sorry for the inconvenience.

We recently returned from a one week holiday trip to Las Vegas in the company of my sister Pat and brother in law Gord who acted as our tour guides. My husband had never experienced the place and was blown away from this unique experience which he described as over the top but in a positive way.

Las Vegas is a huge fantasy town built on its gambling initially but is now a huge  artistic extravaganza. The massive hotel resorts have not spared expense to put amazing art not only in their architecture but in their internal decor which changes with the seasons. The colour, design, uniqueness, and splendour of it was jaw dropping. Around every corner were delightful surprises. Some examples were the amazing marble inlaid floors and walls, a full sized live flower petaled merry go round in full operation, man made mountains with water falls and even an original  Henry Moore sculpture sitting comfortably in the courtyard of the Aria. Of course there was the volcano which erupts hourly at night from the front of the Mirage and dancing waters in the lake in front of the Bellagio. There is even a new huge wheel called The High Roller, which is larger then the London Eye!

The crowds were thick at night and very colourful with many characters in dress.  My sister and I took an elevator down one floor with three Elvis impersonators. Many costumed people were posing for us to take a photo standing beside them  for the price of a tip. My sister and I were amazed at the opulence of the washrooms in these resorts and decided to rate them. This will be discussed in another blog. My favourite had textile art in the washroom which I was delighted to see.

I haven’t even begun to talk about the amazing choice of famous entertainers who appear nightly in the shows on offer which we would like to return to see. It is also a shoppers paradise with every high end shop available. The food was eye popping with ten foot cakes. We were fortunate to have pleasant temperatures in this desert town. All in all, we had a fun, entertaining and educational week in wonderful, crazy colourful Las Vegas!

Here we are having s warm sunny break in Tenerife on the Canary Islands which is just off the coast of Africa at 23 degrees from the equator for you folks who may wonder. I had no idea of these facts until yesterday afternoon and evening when we took a volcano and star gazing tour of one of their main volcanos, Mt Teite. This volcano is smack in the center of a huge ancient volcanic caldera which still is surrounded by various extinct volcanos and the huge volcanic plug from the ancient one. It is compatible to yellowstone park but I don’t think that it is as big.
We drove up this harrowing twisting cliff hanging road through an ancient pine forest. We stopped at a viewing place to watch the sunset complete with glasses of champagne. That was welcomed after the journey up. They then drove us to a lovely restaurant for a yummy dinner and then back in the dead of night to our viewing area where our guide issued blankets and gave us a lazer star tour of the amazing sparkling heavens. Mt Tiede is an international protected area as well as a no fly zone for all world aircraft due to the interference with the many observation stations. It has no light pollution and one of the clearest heavens in the world for viewing the stars.
At the top viewing area were ancient lava fields including a newer one that occurred out of the side of the volcano in the late 1700’s.
I wanted to sit and draw some of the amazing shapes and colors during this trip but it will have to wait until a return trip another time next year when we will rent a car and drive up here for the day. The many photos will have to suffice for now.
We have been to yellowstone national park which I think is one of the most awe inspiring places on the planet. Mt Tiede is awsome but in a different way as it boasts its link to the heavens.

A few days ago I treated myself with a trip to the Knitting and Stitching show at the very impressive and huge Alexander Palace in London.  This yearly show is absolutely packed with impressive displays of contemporary textile works from artists who are from around the world. It also has ongoing workshops for the four days that it is on as well as hundreds of exhibitor booths from a broad spectrum of textile manufactures. Thousands upon thousands of people attend each of the four days of the exhibition.

Upon arriving I was happy to bump into a long time friend and textile artist, Ruth Issett who was waiting for a  visiting group from the USA and Canada lead by my former teacher, Gail Harker. It was a pleasure to briefly see them both again although the pressing crowds necessitated only a brief meeting.

At the entrance to the show stood a huge life sized gazebo  which was completely knitted by some very cleaver local people. I was amazed at their talent as knitting has always been a skill that escaped me. I had to take a couple of photos of this lovely structure complete with it’s  love birds.

These large shows are candy to an artist. One gets to see what new avenues textile art is being taken as well as getting the opportunity to network with fellow artists.  One also gets to stock up on supplies and unusual items  that you can only find at these  shows. Aching feet are the only casualty at the end of a long day.

Having goals in life gives you something to strive for, to look forward to each morning and to celebrate once these are achieved. The goals can vary from losing weight, which is a perpetual one with me, to learning new skills, traveling to new places , etc.

When I lack inspiration to paint or do my textiles, I find that having deadlines for gallery openings, art shows and juried exhibitions can keep me working furiously. Recently I had a piece called Mended accepted for a future show in BC, Canada with the Surface Design Association. It is a whimsical piece called ‘Grandma’s Magical Stories. (Lions & tigers & bears. Oh My!). It is posted below.

Another piece for the same association has just been sent in to be juried so I hope that it is successful. It is for Canada wide members of the SDA and I called it Aspens.

I hope that you enjoy these.  i would love to hear about of your artistic goals.

I have a few pieces including oils, encaustics and textiles,  going into a show at the Paul Badham Gallery in Haywards Heath in East Sussex, UK. The opening is October 4th at noon which should be fun. All are welcome. 

Today I enjoyed a at the regency house in Brighton on silhouettes which were all the rage in regency times. We were shown two machine used in past times to help produce these lovely pieces. They were also painted as well as cut out of card stock. Hand in hand with the silhouettes was a stunning show of regency high fashion gowns with corresponding silhouettes to go with them.
When photography was discovered and developed, the silhouette drawing was no longer used to make inexpensive photographs for the rich as well as the masses. All in all, it was an educational day looking into paper and fashion art in regency times.

Since my last blog, we traveled later then usual to Canada due to the death of my father in law. We traveled to the Calgary Stampede for pre booked events with friends from England after which I attended the encaustic camp in  Seattle Washington. As I paint with encaustics as well, this week long immersion in them was a treat. Part of our week included a trip to Seattle and a visit to the studio of Willow Bader. She is a professional artist who paints large pieces in encaustic. I loved to see the result of this medium at the hands of a painter who painted almost in an impressionistic style. I have included a picture of her studio and some of the many paintings which she had there.

Later when we returned to England, I attended a three day oil painting course on light and atmosphere with my favourite oil instructor, Martin Kinnear. One of the still unfinished pieces is below as well. In between times, I managed to help hang our annual Dupont Art Show where I was successful with the  sale of a couple of my pieces. Tomorrow I am helping to hang an Embroiders Guild show at Nyman’s National Trust site. It will run for a week and show be lovely to see.

I am now also working feverishly  to complete two pieces of textile based work for two Surface Design shows in Canada.  It is good to be busy but a bit of calm would be nice as well. Judy

Recently I spent a lovely day with two girlfriends looking at the magnificent Chagall stained glass windows  in the wee little All Saints Church located in the middle of the beautiful Kent countryside. We were the only ones there so we were able to sit and sketch some of these windows, absorbing the peace and reverence of this chapel.

Marc Chagall was commissioned to do these about 60 years ago by a wealthy member of the church in memory of this families’ daughter who drown at  the age 21. The colours are amazing with the blues and gold which  painted the inside of the chapel. I loved his sensitive reference to the daughter in many of the windows. This is surly a must to see for anyone coming to Kent in  England.To complete the day, there was an old 14th century pub close by where we had a yummy lunch in their out door patio.

It is now the calm before the storm with the opening of the Brighton Festival Artist Open Houses which I am in. This is a huge month long event during the year and a busy one for artists.

I was asked to help organise a new artists open house here in Patcham last summer. It has been a lot of work and an education on setting one up. I will now be in three open houses including the Embroiders Guild one this year which is just a little crazy but fun. The private views for all three are being held this Friday but thankfully at slightly different times. If any friends are around for this, please come and view either during the private view or on weekends during the month of May.

PATCHAM ARTS OPEN HOUSE! INVITES YOU TO ! ! PRIVATE VIEW ! Sheffield Park by Judy Alexander ! on! on Friday, May 9th , 6pm – 8pm! at! Patcham Community Centre! Ladies Mile Road! Patcham, Brighton BN18TA! !

Wow, turners seas are so dramatic and full of action. On the 15th my husband and I visited the show, Turner and the Sea at Greenwich. It had mainly his large oils which gave me goose bumps. The energy that oozed out was amazing. He had many layers of oil put on with his great expertise. I have enjoyed painting a couple of these as studies. It is an excellent way to learn.

On April 5th I had the pleasure of presenting my Paper, Paint and Stitch workshop at Leslie Irving’s Studio in Chewton Mendip, Sommerset. What a fun group of textile artists attended. Leslie spoiled us with an amazing lunch. Her studio is in the midst of a fabulous garden which would inspire anyone to do great work.

Yesterday I meandered my way through the trains and tubes to the Excel Centre in east London to attend the Creative Stiches and Hobbycraft show. I was there to help fellow textile artist Bobby Britnell in her booth which was to support her charity, ‘Hands up for Ugands’. It was lovely to see Bobby again and we had much to catch up with. The work using natural materials made by the people in her Ugandan village was inspiring as was all the work her charity is doing to improve their lives.

Bobby supplied many artists friends and others with a piece of bark cloth made in Uganda in order for us to decorate it. These pieces were sent to a shoe maker who made small shoes with each piece. They were exquisit and will be auctioned off with money going to the charity

It was interesting to see the difference in directions of some of these shows. This one was aimed at people who sew and quilt as well as hobby craft people. It is not as varied as the big shows  such as the knitting and stitching show at Alexander Palace and Birmingham which appeals more to textile artists who are into all sorts of methods of using surface design. I snapped a quick picture of Bobby standing in front of the pair of shoes which I decorated.

I am just completing a three day oil painting course with a wonderful teacher and artist, Martin Kinnear. It is on abstraction with oil painting. My brain is stuffed full of his teachings.
While staying at his old studio which is rented out to students, I took a walk in the morning and met a lovely man walking his dog. I couldn’t help talking a quick photo do them which shows the beauty of this alluring countryside.

As an artist, we appreciate the power of great design in our work. It just makes things so much more successful be it a piece of art or equipment.
My husband and I just purchased two folding Bromton bikes and I am amazed at how this 25 year old design is so exceptional. It has not changed in all those years as it works and delivers on all fronts.
Taking it for it’s first ride yesterday on the windy Brighton waterfront, I passed a group of young men and heard the comment ‘cute’. As I looked up expectantly, I realised that they were looking at my bike!
As I said, good design delivers on all fronts!

In my previous post, the picture of my painting did not transfer and being less then capable of fixing it, I will just add the picture of the painting here. A fees weeks ago I was travelling home on the Brighton bus when we passed the Royal Pavilion. As I looked I realised what a great painting it would make silloetted  against the sky. I immediately got off at the next stop and walked back to the pavilion, climbed over the low garden fence and walked around the rather soggy grounds snapping away with my iPhone. The gardensers must have thought me a little deranged  or just some crazy artist. 

I have been assisting Tina Stiles with the organising of the BHAC art show which will take place April 8-12, 2014. There is much to be done for such a large show. I was pleased that the committee chose my painting of the Royal Pavilion for the private invitations. If my friends are here in Brighton, I would love for them to attend.

The Brighton and Hove Arts Council Invite you to

40th Anniversary – 1974-2014

Spring Exhibition

Private View

at

Fiends’ Meeting House

Ship Street, Brighton

on

Wednesday 9 April 5.30-7.00pm

Earlier this month I spent a splendid day with textile friend Donna Jones viewing the 80’s fashion retrospective show called Club to Catwalk. We also took in the lovely the pearl show. Seeing two in one day kept us on our toes.
The fashion show was amazing to see. It continues until February 16th. The use of beautiful textiles alongside rather amazing chains, feather spiky hats and color combinations was a site to see. We gaped at the everyday outfit that a KISS band member wore complete with cod piece. In the write up he said that he couldn’t understand why everyone looked so shocked when he wore it out to the grocery store.
The 80’s fashions are popular again at present which shows that there is nothing really new in the art world. We just borrow from the past.

A couple of days ago I had the pleasure of celebrating the 72nd birthday of my friend Carol Cleveland. For those who don’t know Carol, she was and is the only female member of the Monty Python group, Carol is listed an actress and comedian. She joined the Pythons over 50 years ago and has continued to pursue her acting and entertaining throughout her life. She has joined the Dupont art group which I am a member of and has sold a number of her paintings as well. Fortunately for her and her Python friends, they have resurrected the Monty Pythons and have sold out 10 performances at London’s huge o2 arena this coming summer.

I look at her long career and am reminded that anyone who wants to succeed in their chosen field must put in long hours and persevere. Whether you are a painter, textile artist, actress, musician, writer or are in any other  field, one can  continue to improve and enjoy the pleasure your profession gives you.  Continue to expand your talents in what ever way you choose.

Thankyou Carol for sharing your celebrations with me.

Spending a day teaching others in new ways to work with  textiles can be both educationsl and inspiring. That is what happened this last Saturday when I taught a group of ladies from the Brighton Embroiders Guild. We spent the day investigating various ways of working with dissolvable papers, bona web, lutradure, fibretex, tyvec, etc. This was scheduled to help prepare members of the club to make inspirational textile pieces with unusual textiles and materials in preparation for the month long Brighton Arts Festival next May. We layered, painted, burned and stitched away during the day. The resulting group were excited about new techniques available to them with their work with textiles. Their samples were great. I can’t wait to see what they will produce in the future.

As part of my series, Painting the Masters, I have just completed this picture which was inspired by Millet’s  Angelus. This is part of a series under the able direction of Martin Kinnear, oil painter and teacher in Norfolk, UK. This painting was completed in 1859 on commission but never collected. It was then named Prayer for the Potato Crop. Millet therefore renamed it. Angelus, and it was shown in 1865.

It is through practice that we can improve our skills, in what ever venue they may be. With this piece, the use of multiple glazes was necessary to achieve the sombreness of the subject. Overlaying colour in glazes or even with sheers on textile pieces can add complexity and depth to the work. I hope that you enjoy this.

When it doesn’t rain, it pours! I have been fortunate enough to be involved in not one but two textile shows in BC which will show concurrently.
I helped to hang both shows. The first one was at the Kay Meek Centre where my piece Reeds on Red is hung in West Vancouver and runs until October 27th.
The second is at the White Rock library and is the annual Outside the Box show. I helped to hang it today. My pieces called Galaxy and Flower Garden ( which is made of painted burned tyvec) are in this show. Both have a wonderful variety of excellent textile pieces.
Tomorrow is the opening night for the out of the box show. It has been well advertised which is positive for a textile show. These shows are often over looked in favour of traditional art. Yeah.

Norfolk painting school teaches an on line instruction from oil painting master painter, Martin Kennard. He teaches painting the way of the old masters. I have just completed my study of the Turner painting on the Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons. This was a very complex study which required a wide range of techniques. They used many mediums which are now known to be toxic so replacements are used. it is a fascinating exercize. As with any other endeavour, practice and determination to succeed should give results. And on I paint…

August has rolled around again with the art group I belong to having their annual show. For those of you who wander into a gallery or an art show, little do you possibly appreciate the time and work it takes to prepare for a show, this one was three days long complete with the service of tea and cakes. I helped to hang it and was exhausted after a full day of setting up screens, and hanging well over a hundred paintings. It was so worth it as this show was our most successful with many paintings and cards being sold.
I was pleased to sell my Poplars on the Epte oil painting on the first day. I had plans to hang it in our dining room but alas, someone else will have that pleasure.
On the final day, our Lord Mayor of Brighton appeared in full mayoral dress at our invitation.Apparently she had flip flops on underneath the large cape. She was very charming and had definate likes and dislikes with the paintings. I was asked to explain some of the paintings to her, thus the picture below.
Shows like this are definitely a positive way to set goals for our club and bring folks together in art.

From July 22nd to July 26th I had the pleasure in attending the Textile Study Group’s summer school which was held at Harper Adams University in Schropshire, UK. The theme of the summer school was ‘Breaking Boundaries’. There were three members teaching that week. I had signed up with Anne Wheeler who was looking at structures. As I enjoy my spirals, I thought that this would broaden my subjects and was not disappointed. Anne is a lovely knowledgable fun teacher who has a wealth of experience with structures such as lace making as well as other things. Now you may think of lace as involving fine thread and tiny stitches but not with Ann. We were treated to lace made with wire, heavy strings and threads and whatever one wanted to use. We also used objects such as seed pods which we thoroughly investigated cutting into them and drawing and remaking them with various materials.
I chose to work with a piece of Kozo which is from the mulberry tree. It looks like shrunken up hard bark but when soaked in water, will stretch out magnificently. This can be stitched, dyed, and used for many things. I elected to heavily machine stitch these pieces with various weights of threads and yarns. I am going to continue to stitch into the large wall hanging with various fine threads but will show you the results of my endeavours now. I also made a small piece which I called Round and Round the Mulberry.
This first picture shows Anne teaching us a novel way to make books-yet another structure
The last one is a picture of art made by my friend and fellow student, Donna Jones, who was in the class taught by Sian Martin.

On July 13 gave a workshop sponsored by the Brighton embroiders guild here in Patcham. It was so much fun teaching a group of enthusiastic and talented stitchers how to paint on watercolor paper, bond it to calico and stitch it. They were soon having great fun in adding sheers and threads for embellishment. It was a seven hour workshop which resulted in some really lovely work. As always, one learns by teaching and I thoroughly enjoyed this class.
The guild has booked me to do another workshop next year on wild and wonderful new techniques in stitching and art. It should be an adventure!

On Saturday the 15th Brighton and Hove celebrated People’s day with dozens of organisations and groups performing or displaying their organisations, works and talents. Thousands attended with kids playing in the makeshift playgrounds, food courts busily selling all sorts of food and singers and dancers strutting their stuff.
We at DuPont art had about six of us painting and displaying some of our art in order to advertise DuPont. I brought my iPad as the kids love watching me draw on it and adults are fascinated that one can do this on an iPad. The mayor and her assistant came along and wanted to be shown how it worked as well. This picture captured the moment. The art behind me shows a couple of pictures and textile pieces that I brought to display as well. The other picture below is of a Monet that I did on the iPad. I find that it is a good tool for design and handy to take where water, paint and stitch are not easily used.

On may 28th I visited the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace to see the wonderful show called ‘the Art of Tutor and Stuart Fashion. It is a stunning exhibition of paintings of glorious clothing and textiles as well as actual pieces of clothing and textiles. It is on until October 6, 2013.
On the same day, I took in the textile show by Prism at the Mall Galleries which was innovative and a must to see.

On May 23rd I drove with a friend to the Horsham Quilters Guild day to listen to a talk by Jan Beany, one of the two artists known as Double Trouble. These two artists have over 20 books to their credit and travel the world to teach various textile techniques. i have had the pleasure of taking a couple of courses from her business partner, Jean Littlejohn and enjoyed them thoroughly . This was the reason I wanted to hear from Jan.

She showed her work over the years and talked of the way she does her art. She emphasised using her journal and really looking at things before dealving in. These  wise words can apply to any typed of art. Her journals were lovely and colourful as can be seen here.

On May 18th I helped with a workshop at Ascention arts which is part of the Brighton and Hove Fringe Festival. It involved working with 6-14 year old children from the young embroiders group as well as local children. I was able to show them how to construct screen backed textile spirals which could be hung in their gardens. It was great fun. The imaginations and innate skills they showed with this was a pleasure to see. Most importantly, they had fun in working with mixed media including textiles at such a young age.

A delightful yearly gathering of my three sisters included a theatre weekend in London and tours of the cities treasures. After a delightful lunch with our husbands and the Van der Welle’s, it culminated with the four of us fitting rather tightly into a London red phone box!

After a very busy time in BC which ended with a super trip to the Sechelt meeting of the surface design group, we are back in Brighton. Having survived a week of jet lag, we went to the opening of the Brighton and Hove Arts Council show last night where I have several pieces. One of my encaustic pieces is shown in this picture. I was delighted to have a sale of one of my small pieces which was called black cat.

Our local art store chain has a series of free demos using many types of art processes. To my delight, I saw that Catherine was listed as one of the presenters on march 23rd and immediately signed up. Catherine is a well known textile artist and teacher and one not to be missed. She is also a very charming person who is generous with her knowledge.
She demonstrated mark making on fabric. As she studied art and painting before studying her textiles with city and guilds, she is comfortable with the use of acrylic paints and inks on fabric which produce lovely effects. She is also part of the three fold group with Lara and Linda Kemshall.

On march 18th I drove down to the lovely La Conner area of Washington, just south of our White Rock home in order to pick up my piece of art which was shown at the recent successful show of students of Gail Harker Everette Washington.
The drive to the La Conner area is so beautiful with the fields of daffodils waving in the breeze.
Gail Harker’s school is located in a wonderful converted huge old barn loaded with bright areas for her many students to work in. I have included a couple of pictures of it as well as my piece of art called ‘galaxy’ which I picked up.

We are here at our Canadian home in White Rock. Although it has been a wet spring here, there have been sunny days as week. This morning walk along the ocean front was a delight. I so enjoyed the sun and shadows on the water as well as the glisten of it on the large white rock which sits on the beach. The wind surfer took my breath away with the flips and speed which occurred. It makes me itch for my paints.

I attended a wonderful presentation of Valentino, Master of Couture at the Somerset House, London on February 12th. What a wonderful display of his beautiful gowns which were designed over the past 40+ years. So many famous people wore his designs and I can see why. The gowns were amazingly beautiful with lace, jewels, and also clean classical lines. What a treat.